cliff to deal with this fiscal cliff. again, a total lack of courage, lack of leadership. >> senator corker does congress realize how ridiculous this looks to the american public duelling press conferences, zero substance. we are minutes away from a deadline here and it doesn't look like anyone in washington is taking it seriously. >> i think most of us understand it. i think you guys know that i've laid out a very detailed bill to deal with it. i shared it with the white house, with speaker boehner, with leaders at every level. i've put forth an entitlement reform package. the problem is we don't want to face up to the tough issues that our nation is dealing with and yes, i think we understand that. we should not be having back room meetings. the reason we have the closed door meetings is again we don't have the courage to debate these issues out on the senate floor. >> so that no one gets the blame, instead everybody gets the blame. >> that's exactly right. >> i want to ask you a question about speaker boehner and plan